Pages from precursor no 49 39171

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P R E C U R S O R

X L I X

This is PRECURSOR XLIX and is published in May 1995. The editorial offices are at 2215 Myrtle Street, Erie, Pennsylvania, 16502. PRECURSOR will be published more than three times a year, and it will be sold for $16.00 (U.S.) for three issues. Outside the United States, Canada, and Mexico, three issues are sent Air Mail for $19.00 (U.S.).

Phil Goldstein's "Shueffle" is a well thought-out effect that is based on some of the most interesting principles of Johann Hofzinser, Charles T. Jordan, and Norman Gilbreath. I think there is much to this effect that is well worth thinking about.

Aldo Colombini's fine routine, "Reunion," is an excellent combining of an "Ace Assembly" with Peter Kane's "Jazz Aces" that is quite clean.

When Nick Trost was over this past Labor Day week for our annual session, we had some business to attend to at the Buffalo Public Library, and afterwards we attended Dan Block's "First Annual Buffalo Super Session." During the course of the evening, Dan Block fooled me badly with "Super Flush." He gave me the full details, and they are presented here. Be sure to check this out - it's great!

During a break at a recent Buffalo Ring 12 meeting, Harrison Carroll and I were discussing "Nail Writers." During this discussion, Harrison described Terry Veckey's Target; I loved it and had to have it for PRECURSOR. After much correspondence - here it is. I hope you love it as much as I do.

The "Slop Count," an entirely different type of a Count devised by David Drake, is based on Sid Lorraine's "Slop Shuffle." It is used here in an interesting Royal Flush production and can be applied to many other effects.

Joe Rindfleisch's "Reverse Switch" is an excellent reversal of a peeked card in the center of the deck. Joe gives credit to Ken Krenzel and his "Square Reverse" for the basis of this, but I am sure there is an Ed Mario influence because of the similarity to the "K. M. Move" in its methodology and the "Convincing Card Control" in the presentation. Rather than using a "Spectator Peek," I would rather use a "Dribble" from one hand to the other and then raise the packets to show the selection.

A routine that I always said I was going to work on was Dai Vernon's "Seven Card Monte" from the DAI VERNON BOOK OF MAGIC. I never did, but Paul Swinford did, and his handling is offered here. I want to stress here that the double-faced card is two cards cemented back to back because it is also used as a thick key card.

"Compute One Up" by Marty Kane is a very simple handling of the "Riffle Force" that has a couple of subtle throw-offs in it that should add to its deceptiveness.

Al Thatcher's "Al's Monstrosity" is in reality a wild monstrosity that takes the "Gilbreath Principle" to its extreme limits and is quite puzzling.

"Plunger Coincidence" is an old trick that has quite a history that I would like to touch on briefly. C. B. Yohe was one of the best friends I ever had. In the last year of his life, after all of his books were gone, he still had a basement room full of instruction sheets and individual secrets. He said I could have anything pertaining to card magic that I wanted if I would sort it out myself.

I ended up with four large boxes of Card Secrets. Among this material was a letter from Lew Harmon to C. B. dated March 27, 1946. Included in this letter was another letter to Lew from Chet (?) who was working in San Francisco at the time.

Chet described this trick, that I entitled "Plunger Coincidence." As you can see. this trick is fifty years old, and I have never seen it in print. I really think it is a very interesting use of the "plunger" principle."

William P. Miesel March 9, 1995

Thinking of tricks which have not met the test of time, whatever became of "The Inexhaustible Growler"? It was a sort of lota bowl. This would have been a real boon to boozers in the days before bottled beer gained its popularity in local neighborhoods.

Then there was the trio of effects named after an earlier famous magician: Kellar Changing Silks Kellar Changing Billiard Balls Kellar Changing Plumes The plume trick could be subtitled: "No Variations On a Theme".

Here's an expression I heard somewhere, and it sounded humourous enough to be stashed away in the mind. It could be used as: "This trick has two parts: Part A and Part Two." In a recent issue of ChemTech, there was a clever definition of golf as presented

by James Reston: Golf: A plague invented by the Calvinistic Scots as a punishment for man's sins.

1. Fishyback; 2. Birdyback; and 3. Piggyback. What do these represent? Answer: Carrying of loaded trailers by 1. barges; 2. airplanes; and 3. railcars.

CAUTION: Eating is the leading cause of E. coli. ... And I really don't think that April showers bring spring flowers! Spring snakes ... maybe!

Ed Eckl

SHUEFFLE

In the July 1994 Magigram, Werner Miller offered an appealing solution to a Hofzinser-based plot wherein the color distribution of a cut-off packet is magically identified. While toying with that routine, the following simple approach was devised allowing the deck to be shuffled by the participant at the outset.

A deck with a one-way back design is required. Set all of the red cards so that their backs point in one direction, with the blacks pointing in the opposite direction. Now, arrange fifteen red cards on top of the deck in this order: Court Card - Court Card - Court Card - Three - Four - Five - Six - Seven - Eight - Nine - Ten - Jack - Queen - King, followed by the remaining red cards. The suits of the cards in the top stock are immaterial, and should be mixed. This is followed by an identical sequence of fifteen black cards starting at the center of the deck, followed by the balance of the black cards.

To start the routine, cut the deck above the twenty-seventh card. This location is easily found, thanks to the one-way back design. Begin the actions of a Riffle Shuffle, then seemingly change your mind and slide the two half-packs in front of a spectator, saying, "You shuffle them."

The participant shuffles the two packets together. Now, direct the assistant to cut off less than half the deck. If the shuffle has been relatively even, the spectator can cut up to the midpoint. If the shuffle has been ragged, you may opt to change the instructions to having the spectator cut off less than a third of the deck in order to avoid any subsequent problems.

Pick up the remainder of the deck while reminding the audience that the spectator shuffled and cut the cards. Note the direction in which the top card of the talon is pointing.

As if to emphasize the preceding comment, give the cards in your hands a cut.

What is actually done here is a Double Undercut, shifting the top card of the packet to the bottom. If the new top card of the talon is pointing in the opposite direction to its predecessor, you are ready to continue. If it is aligned in the same direction as the one before, perform a Slip Cut to lose that card. If the new top card has an opposite orientation, you're set to move on; if not, do one or more Slip Cuts until a card of reverse orientation is on top.

The actions of the previous paragraph take but a moment, and are made while recapping the spectator's actions. Turn to the spectator and say, "In fact, give the cards you're holding a further mix." As this is being done, emphasize that with all of this shuffling and cutting out of your control, there is no way for anyone to know the contents of the spectator's packet.

The true reason for this latter mixing is to break up the sequential nature of the card values within the cut-off packet. The court cards atop the stacks, now mixed in with the number cards, will further obscure the evidence.